After Armageddon
by Chanting Fox
Summary: What happens when Sly Cooper gets busted? The end of the world, right? That won't seem so funny after you read this story... the end of the world can get a lot worse before it gets better...
1. Failed Attempts, Different Purposes

The box was unusual in itself, but so was the security around it... that I knew of. The box in question had been found in a strange ruin far beneath the Atlantic Ocean by an expedition led by an wealthy eccentric. He had been the only person who believed in the existence of the ruins, and had been called crazy for his continued belief. He had been made fun of worldwide for many years... but he was the one laughing now. He wouldn't be for long. I was going to steal the box from his estate located on his private island. What made me think I could pull it off? I'm Sly Cooper, one of the greatest master thieves that the world had ever seen. That's right... that the world HAD even seen. It should have tipped me off immediately that something was wrong... what was so unusual about the security around the box was the apparent lack of it. No lasers or spotlights, and no guards either... but I put it down to the fact that the person I was about to steal the box from was an eccentric. If Bentley had been with me, the heist wouldn't have ended like it did... but I probably wouldn't be alive either.

I made it into the estate without any trouble; no guards to evade, and it was a simple matter of using my Spire Jump to land on one of the points of the iron fence surrounding the estate. I quickly slipped inside the mansion where the eccentric lived and where the box was located. I knew what the box I was here to steal looked like... in hindsight its very appearance was a warning of what would happen if the box was ever opened, but one that was unheeded because almost nobody understood it. The box was fashioned of a black material, which was never identified. Its size and shape was that of a jewelry box that could easily fit in a medium-sized drawer. The sides of the box were inscribed with strange symbols which were assumed to be part of a long-dead language, and the top of the box had the image of a bizarre creature carved into it. The creature was a jumble of heads, tails, legs and arms. The strangest thing about it was that the eccentric claimed that the appearance of the creature changed each night, which seemed impossible. Needless to say, I found the box quickly... and then the lights came on... literally.

"Freeze, Cooper!" I knew that voice... "Inspector Fox!" "Surprised you, didn't I? Well, I've got another surprise for you!" As the Inspector said this, I heard the click of weapons being cocked in readiness to fire. Needless to say, I knew I was busted. Carmelita by herself had never been a problem when it came to making a getaway... but this time she wasn't alone. That's right, I waltzed right into a trap that had been set by Interpol. I later found out that the person who gave me the information necessary for the heist had been working for Interpol in exchange for not ending up behind bars for half a century. Needless to say, I wasn't in the position or the mood to trade remarks with the Inspector. I was quickly cuffed, and a few days later, I was booked for the heists I had pulled solo. Ironically, it turned out that the fact that Bentley and Murray had split for good after helping me escape from that helicopter had made it impossible to prosecute me for the heists we'd pulled together as the Cooper Gang.

2 months after that, I was already in jail, serving a sentence that I'd end up never finishing. I heard through the grapevine that there was a new inmate... one who had tried to steal the box that I had been after and succeeded... but gotten caught a few days later with the box on him. Carmelita had gotten promoted after capturing me and had been in charge of tracking down and arresting the culprit. Two good things came out of that for her; she made another big arrest, and nobody in the criminal made up stories about her having so-and-so for a lover... where so-and-so was always a male fox that had a criminal reputation of someone that half the inmates in the prison wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. (Not that Interpol or Carmelita cared about that.) Unfortunately for her, that happened because the culprit was a male fox, who had apparently knocked out half of the officers accompanying her, busted her shock pistol, and managed to get a few solid hits on her before being taken down by the rest of the accompanying officers, with emphasis on THE REST.

He ended up being put into a cell next to mine. Since I was in the maximum security part of the prison (due to my thieving reputation), it further reinforced what I'd heard. I had no idea what he'd been thinking, but I was sure he'd never forgive himself for making the mistake of attacking law enforcement officers... especially since he was going to be in prison for a lot longer than I was because of that. Unfortunately, I was wrong about that... what he was sorry about (and what those who know what happened once the box was opened) was that he'd failed to keep the box from being opened. What happened when the box was opened? It was the end of the world as we knew it...


	2. Doomsday: Sly Cooper's Story

It started out like every other day with the usual prison routine: get up, receive breakfast, an hour of exercise, back to the cell, lunch... and that's where every other day became "Doomsday." The warden of the prison was pretty nasty; if he could have had every inmate beaten 3 times a day and gotten away with it, he would have done it. Since he couldn't, he would find ways to torture us mentally. That day he decided to single me and one other inmate out. Who was the other inmate? The one who saved my life... and would have prevented IT from happening.

"Sly Cooper, i think you're going to enjoy this!" That came over the PA system, and the guards started chuckling... and everybody else winced, because they knew I wasn't going to enjoy it at all. It would prove to be a cruel irony that everybody else ended up dead and we were the two who survived... the two inmates who were meant to be tortured by what we were about to hear. It was an even more cruel irony that it would succeed... but not in the way it had been intended to. What came over the PA system was clearly the sound from a TV, which had everybody puzzled until it became apparent that the TV was tuned to live coverage related to the box I'd tried (and failed) to steal. Normally the warden would have made some remarks of his own to further torture his "captive audience," but he didn't this time since he KNEW that having to listen to this was more humiliating for me than anything he could have said... I wasn't even referred to by my name, just as "one of two criminals who tried and failed to steal this box."

Several minutes passed in this way, and then the eccentric who was the owner of the box got up to speak. He spoke for several minutes about various things and then said: "And now, let's get around to the box. It clearly holds something of great value to whomever lived in those ruins, and the box appears to have been completely sealed ever since those ruins sunk to the bottom of the ocean. I will now open the box..." As he said this, the inmate next to me suddenly opened his eyes wide. That inmate was "the other criminal" who had succeeded in stealing the box, but gotten caught; the male fox who had taken down half the officers accompanying Captain Carmelita... but you already know the rest. He started to chant something strange out loud, and the guards moved in to silence him... the other inmates started to move away from him and I would have done the same... except I found that I couldn't move! Then suddenly a horrific sound was heard over the PA... it sounded worse than my head would have felt if I'd ever tried to make sense out of some of the books that I knew Bentley loved to read... and that's pretty bad. However, it wasn't as bad as what happened next... considering it was pretty much the last thing everybody else would hear.

The walls of the prison burst inwards, destroyed by a massive wave of some dark force, and I was enclosed within a gray sphere of energy with the chanting fox. As that happened, all awareness of anything outside the sphere was beyond my reach. It was just me and the chanting fox... who I KNEW couldn't have been responsible for the wave of that dark force simply because... well there was simply too much of a feeling of pure destruction in it... pure chaos. Don't ask me how I knew... I simply did, just as I knew something horrible had just happened.

A few minutes later, the fox slowed down his chanting and then stopped chanting all together. The gray sphere vanished... and I was left to look upon a strange sky which was blood red in color, no sign of anybody or anything else from the prison (with the exception of a few piles of rubble that I learned a short time later was all that remained of the prison building), and with no idea where I was. I turned to the fox and said: "WHERE DID YOU TAKE ME?" Yes, I was "freaked out," and it didn't help when I got an answer. "I haven't taken you anywhere. I don't even know why you're alive. I thought that sphere would only protect me from it." "WHAT is IT?" The fox turned to me (he hadn't been looking at me before) and I saw a horriible sadness in his eyes. "The contents of the box... the hatred and sorrow that destroyed the world before... and has done so again. The box was never meant to be opened... it was never meant to see the light of day again..." He then stopped, bent down and started to pound his fist upon the ground. "WHY! WHY DID I LET MY GUARD DOWN! IF I HADN'T LET MY GUARD DOWN, THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED!" I was speechless for a few moments, and then said to him: "... Destroyed the world before and has done so again? Be serious, pal... what happened?" Now that I'd calmed down a bit, I was skeptical and thought that maybe my companion was attempting to pull one over on me or was weirded out. However... when my companion stopped pounding the ground, stood up, and looked me straight in the face with the same sadness in his eyes, I realized that as far as HE knew (and for the most part what he knew ended up being the truth of the matter) the world as I had known it had ended... and I felt fear and terror grip me completely. That had only happened once before in my lifetime... when Clockwerk and the other members of the Fiendish Five had come after my parents and the Thieivus Raccoonus that fateful night... the night that I became an orphan.


	3. Doomsday: Carmelita Montoya's Story

I never was much for fancy parties or other large events when it didn't had something to do with taking down criminals... criminal... a word that doesn't really have much meaning anymore. Everybody who is still alive is more interested in attempting to pick up what remains of their old lives from the rubble that is all that remains of the world that we knew before that fateful day. However, that day I was ordered to attend the event where the old eccentric was going to show off that box. Yes... THAT box... the same one.

"Captain Montoya, despite the fact that both Sly Cooper and that other thief (nobody knew what the name of the latter was) are behind bars, Interpol must insure that at best there are no further attempts to steal that box, and at worst that if there are any more attempts that they do not succeed." "I understand, sir. However, why do I have to be involved? With all due respect, I don't believe it would be possible for ANYBODY to succeed in any such attempt." "You have your orders, Captain. Are you refusing...? "Absolutely not! Orders are orders, and I will follow them." "Very good. Dismissed!"

As I walked back to my office, I started to think about several things. The first was that while it felt good to have put Cooper behind bars, he had gotten away with quite a few crimes because he and his pals had broken up. The next was about that mysterious male fox; he had no criminal record ANYWHERE prior to his stealing the box, no apparent motive for doing so, and yet he had broken my shock pistol and knocked out half the officers accompanying me at the time... not to mention giving me a few bruises that had taken a week to heal completely. As I entered my office, the third thing I thought about was that things were going to be a lot more boring now that Cooper was behind bars. I quickly consoled myself with the fact that there would be other criminals to take down, other cases to investigate... and unfortunately new annoyances to deal with. "The orders I have unfortunately fall under the last category," I thought to myself. If I had only known how wrong I was... but what good would that have done. I would only understand those words I heard from the young fox as I arrested him: "I've failed... everybody... if that box is opened, it'll be the end... and those who have stopped me here and now will wish they had not... if they survive." I took that as a threat and wrote it up in the arrest report... I would be lying if I said that it didn't disturb me that I did that; there was a threat being implied in those words, but FOR me rather than AT me.

As I had suspected in the first place, there appeared to be no reason why I should have come to the event in the first place. The crowd of people present would have made it impossible for anybody to steal the box and escape successfully. Still, I kept a lookout for any trouble...for a while. I then got bored, and started to notice other things... things that still haunt me. I heard the loud cry of a baby, and thought that it would be much better for that baby to be at home in its crib than out here at this event that it couldn't even begin to comprehend yet. I noticed a young dog proposing to his girlfriend, and she accepted. An old tiger nearby had his cane knocked out of his hand when the fox next to him accidentally bumped into it, and the tiger fell down. I quickly headed over to help him up, and the fox who had knocked the cane out of the old tiger's hand was clearly apologetic. "Are you hurt? Do I need to call the paramedics?" "No, no... I'll be fine... just help me up and give me my cane." I helped the old tiger up and the other fox picked up his cane and gave it to the tiger. "Thank you... both of you... may fate protect you both from ill fortune for this!" I thanked the old tiger for his kind words and returned to my post. I don't know if that old tiger possessed any power to influence fate (something which I never would have believed possible at the time), but perhaps he did... and then again maybe he didn't. As far as I know, he didn't survive what happened that day, and neither did the other fox who helped him.

It was ten minutes later when the eccentric got up to speak, holding the box in his hands. i was relieved since I knew that after he finished speaking, I could get back to the REAL police work. I didn't play much attention to him, until he mentioned that he was going to open the box and see what was in it. THAT sparked my interest... whatever was in there was probably going to drive a lot of people nuts... figuratively speaking. The officer next to me said: "I bet half the archaeologists in the world just dropped dead of fright in the moment before he mentioned the box was completely sealed!" It was only funny until the box was opened... if that officer had still been alive afterwards, he probably would have ended up shooting himself despite the fact that just like everybody else present (myself included) had no idea that if that had actually been all that happened, it would have been a lot less of a tragedy than what DID happen.

"What... what's thi... AGHHHH!" That's the last thing I remember hearing... the puzzlement of the old eccentric changing about 2 seconds later into a bloodchilling scream... the contents of the box hit too quickly for me to comprehend anything else. When I regained consciousness, I was dazed for a few moments, and then tried to comprehend what had just occurred. "Something... something was in that box... what WAS it?" I said this to myself, and decided to contact HQ to report what had happened... but I stopped when I realized something... I was alone. "Where... where is everybody!" I started to look around... "WHERE IS EVERYTHING?" The buildings, the podium, civilians and fellow officers... gone. The Eiffel Tower... gone. In a panic I tried to contact HQ... "HELLO! HELLO!" Then I realized that I wasn't even getting static on my radio... and I lost consciousness again, this time out of shock. It didn't help that in the moment before I lost consciousness, I realized the sky was now blood red.


	4. Goodbye To The Past: Sly Cooper's Story

I was so paralyzed by the fear and horror that had just gripped me that when I felt somebody place their hand on my shoulder, my first instinct was to bolt away as fast as I could. My second instinct was to fight because I was being prevented from doing so. "Calm down... it's just me." Yep... it was my companion, the mysterious fox; needless to say, I felt a bit stupid.

"I..." "No need... I'd have been more worried if you HADN'T reacted that way. Well, what are we going to do now?" "What are WE going to do?" "I could argue that I saved you and as such that you owe me... but we both know that when I was chanting, I thought the end result would be my sole survival. No offense, but that's what I thought would happen." "So, you really don't know why I was protected along with you?" "If I did, I might have been able to protect more than just the two of us. However, back to the point. I said "we" because my abilities make me better suited to make decisions for the two of us for the time being. I won't insult you by saying that i won't give you a choice in the matter, or that it will remain that way. However, the world as we knew it no longer exists... and my abilities could mean the difference between life and death for quite a while. Besides, you aren't any good at fighting without your cane."

"My cane? So you know who I am?" "Sly Cooper, master thief. It was a good thing that you got captured... or would have been had that box you and I both attempted to take never been opened." "Hey, don't blame me for not knowing what was inside that box!" "I'm not... I was the only one who knew what was in that box... and thus should be the only one held responsible for the failure to prevent its opening." "Not that again... it's not going to change anything to beat yourself up about that... what's done is done." "You say that like it's nothing that the world has been destroyed because I failed to keep the box in my possession long enough to hide it someplace that nobody would ever find it again."

I decided not to argue with him about that; it was a no-win situation. "You're right about me not being any good at fighting without having my cane. So what do you say we try and find it?" "I'll try... but there's a very good chance that it's been destroyed along with everything else... but then again I was wrong in what I thought about me being the only survivor." My companion closed his eyes and sat down for a few minutes. When he reopened them, he walked past me and pointed to one of the piles of rubble. "It's there... or at the very least part of it."

Sure enough, my cane was under that pile of rubble, but it took a while to uncover it even though my companion was helping me. "Ok, that's great! If it's not too much trouble..." "Forget it... when I used my abilities to search for your cane, I would have also detected other objects as well... if there were any other objects left. That's all you're going to find." "You just don't want to try again, is that it?" My companion turned and said to me, "If there were any other objects, I would have detected them. If you don't believe me, you're welcome to try and search for yourself." I did so, but as night fell (and until it was dark, I tried to avoid looking at the sky as it was even more creepy-looking as the sun began to set) I had discovered nothing else... and I'd searched every single pile of rubble.

" I can't believe this... my family's book... it's been destroyed!" "What's so important about this book? The world's been destroyed... isn't that far worse!" I had a feeling that one of two things was about to happen: my companion was about to get seriously annoyed with me (which was bad), or he was going to start beating himself up again about getting taken down and losing the box (which would be both somewhat annoying and completely useless.) I decide to tell him about the "book" and what it had contained; The information on Clockwerk, the records of my exploits and those of my ancestors, the thieving secrets of the Cooper family (although I obviously did not tell him how to perform the techniques that fell under that category,) and that I'd had to recover it piece by piece from the Fiendish Five. "I can understand now why you're so upset about its destruction... but don't you realize that much of that information would be useless anyway?" "What do you mean USELESS!" "What is the purpose of you being a thief if I'm the only other creature still left alive? I don't have much except the clothes that I'm wearing and my abilities. If, and I mean IF there are other creatures still alive, there won't be a lot of them, and most of what they had will most likely have been destroyed as well. You and your family were renowned for stealing from master criminals... but do you really think there can be any of those left? Those who aren't dead will have just as little as we do. It's going to be a struggle to survive as it is for everybody who's still alive."

I realized with horror the truth of what my companion was saying, and the bitter irony in it. My family had specialized in stealing from master criminals because of three things that you couldn't find in the act of stealing from anybody else: fun, challenge, and honor. The fact of the matter was that if I'd been able to escape from the prison with the possessions I'd been forced to turn over upon my arrival to the prison, I'd have gone back to my old ways of stealing from master criminals and messing with Carmelita's head before making my getaway. I'd grown up quite a bit since I'd left that orphanage so long ago (or that's how it seemed to me,) but I'd just learned one of the most important lessons of my life. There was no place for a thief in the world the way it now was to be able to steal and say that they were honorable. As I thought things couldn't get any worse, something hit me; something from the news broadcast everybody had heard over the PA... before everybody in the prison except me and my companion were killed by the contents of the box. "... and we're coming to you live from beautiful Paris..." Paris... Interpol... Carmelita! Wait... the world... Bentley and Murray! Were they all alive and fine or...? So I ended up frozen with fear and horror again? Nope... I went straight past that stage to "complete blackout."


	5. Goodbye To The Past: Carmelita Montoya's...

As I regained consciousness, my first thought would have been that I had just awoken from a nightmare... except that the first thing I saw was that blood-red sky. So my first thought was that something was wrong with me. "I need to report back to HQ AFTER I get myself to a hospital... perhaps I was hurt more badly by that criminal than it appeared at first." It seems pretty ridiculous looking back upon that decision... but at the time I couldn't bring myself to believe that something in a small box could have destroyed the city of Paris and apparently left me the only living creature around. I was further convinced when I told myself that it would have been impossible for such a thing to have occurred.

"Something that came out of that box that destroyed the city and everyone present at that event but myself? Ridiculous... there were no bodies around after I regained consciousness... if anything happened at all! It's far more logical an explanation that something has happened to me..." As I walked in the direction of the nearest hospital, I told myself that everything would all right once I got myself checked out. That stopped working a few minutes later. That's when I arrived at where the hospital HAD been. "What... No, it's just me... the hospital's still here. All I need to do is..." I ended up falling flat on my face a moment later as I tripped over something. "Ouch... what did I just... WHAT!" The "something" I had tripped over turned out to be a steel table... the kind you'd see a surgeon's tools on... or a dentist's tools. "This is bad... looks like it may NOT be just something wrong with ME after all! Why haven't the other officers shown up yet... for that matter, why hasn't anybody shown up yet!"

Somebody did show up a few moments later... and it was a rude awakening."You're really out of it, huh? Don't worry about it flatfoot... because I'm about to make that permanent!" I spun around to see a gun pointed at me. It was being held by a young dog, who I could easily determine as belonging to a street gang by the crude (and violent-looking) symbols on his clothing, his attitude and the fact that he had several scars on his face. Before I could respond, he fired his gun, and the bullet grazed my shoulder. He didn't get a second shot off, as I tackled him to the ground. "For your information punk, I'm Captain Carmelita Montoya of Interpol, and you're under arrest!" "That's a laugh... considering the fact that not only has the city been totaled by some crazy bomb, but Interpol no longer exists either!"

I ignored both him and the pain from my grazed shoulder, cuffed his hands, and headed back to Interpol HQ, keeping the gun I had relieved him of pointed at his back. "You'll see... we might be the only two creatures alive in the city... for all I know maybe even the world." "Your lies are as pathetic as your skill with a gun, punk!" "If that was true, you'd be dead right now!" "We see if you think you're as funny after a night in a jail cell... I doubt that you'll be as disrespectful of the law tomorrow!"

Things continued this way until I got close to where the Interpol building was... WAS being the key word. "Want to repeat that line about the two things I'm pathetic at?" I didn't have a chance to respond... somebody opened fire from the ruins of what had been the Interpol building, and the punk ended up taking a bullet to the face. I didn't have any chance to fully comprehend what had just happened as whoever had just shot the punk then opened fire on me. The only good thing about the punk getting shot was that the training I had at the academy kicked in, and I instinctively dove for cover. That cover was probably what remained of a building that had been adjacent to Interpol. I didn't hide for long though... I took a peek out from behind my hiding place, and nearly lost one of my ears. I returned fire, and quickly ducked back just as a volley of bullets whizzed past, which would have hit me in the face if I had been a second slower when it came to my reaction time. However, the next time I fired, there wasn't any return fire.

"Is this a trick... or did whoever that was shooting at me run away?" I cautiously approached the ruins of Interpol HQ... and got my answer as well as a fatal blow to the idea that I would get any help from fellow officers. That's because the person who had shot the punk and had been shooting at me WAS one of my fellow officers... or at least he had been at the beginning of the day. It turned out that I'd hit him square in the forehead, and my first thought was that my career was over because of this. A second later, I realized that my career was over anyway... Interpol no longer existed, and that's what finally drove home the fact that Paris was a dead city with nothing left to keep me there. The next day, I left Paris with my shock pistol (which had been repaired, and somehow had survived whereas pretty much everything else that had been in HQ had been destroyed,) some food and water (lightweight and non-perishable since I didn't know how far or how long I'd have to travel), and some basic survival gear which I'd managed to recover from the rubble of other buildings (a compass, several maps, a first aid kit, etc.) I had absolutely no idea how long it would be before I would find a place that I could call home again, or what horrors I would see along the way... or of the companions I would gain.


	6. Perilous Beginning: Sly Cooper's Story

I awoke thinking for a moment that it had all been a nightmare... that I hadn't been captured attempting to steal that box. Unfortunately the moment I thought about the box, everything came back to me at once. "So, you're conscious again... that's good. We'll need to get moving soon." "...Getting moving? Where exactly do you plan on traveling to? If you're right about what happened after the box was opened, there won't be any place left to travel to." "True, and I don't have any idea of what the surrounding area is like... and even if I did, that knowledge would have been rendered useless by the destruction that has been wrought on the land. However, what I DO know is that we'll die if we stay here. There's no food, no water, and no shelter here."

I started getting a bit annoyed with my (for the most part) mysterious companion. "I can take care of myself! I'm a master thief from a long line of master thieves!" "You WERE a master thief... there's no place for a thief in the world now. Your skills will need to be put to other uses if you wish to survive. Besides, you're NOT one of your ancestors, and the world now would be far more friendly to them than it would be to you. You have just as little knowledge of the state of the world now as I do... and even less knowledge of what dangers lie out there now. If you travel by yourself, you will end up dead, murdered... or eaten." "Eaten? What do you mean by that? Was there more than just that destructive energy contained in that box?" "l was about to explain that; you looked like you would have dropped dead of fright if I'd told you before. I mean that quite literally."

My companion explained what he meant... and saying it wasn't pleasant to listen to would be a major understatement. "The first time the hatred and sorrow that was in that box was unleashed upon the world, some of the dark energies it possessed ended up giving birth to horrific monsters. In other cases, it destroyed the minds of many of those who survived in body, making them mindless creatures who sought only to kill others. The hatred and sorrow also awoke the spirits of those long dead, usually the spirits of those who had died tragically and/or violently... or those who died with immense hatred in their hearts." "Great... so you're telling me that the world is now one big horror movie? If this is meant to make me feel better, you're not doing a very good job of it." "I'm trying to tell you WHY you can't travel alone. I can provide some protection against the dangers that you have no defense against. Likewise, your abilities will perhaps be essential to my survival, and almost certainly to the survival of others."

I was about to retort, but my companion's eyes suddenly went wide with shock just as something began to strangle me. "A criminal like YOU survives when a servant of justice like ME perishes! I'll remedy that right now!" I knew that voice... it was the prison warden, and I instinctively tried to escape from the chokehold around my neck by fighting back in any way I could... but it didn't work. After all, the warden was already dead in body, so it was his spirit which was trying to kill me. The hold around my neck increased in strength, and and as I fell to my knees and my sight started to cloud, I thought it was all over. In the end I was right about that, but I was wrong about who it was over for.

"Desist, spirit of hatred! Begone from this world!" A flash of light pierced my clouded vision, and the grip the spirit had on my neck first loosened, then was completely released. I coughed for a few moments before I was able to breathe normally again. "What right do YOU have to stop me? You're a CRIMINAL just like HIM! I was going to let you try to run away and prolong your miserable life for a little while, but now I'll kill you and then I'll deal with Cooper!" I turned to see that the spirit of the warden (which had an face that was so high on the ugly scale that it could have probably stopped Big Ben) was threatening my companion... but he didn't seem the slightest bit scared. "A criminal according to the law... yes. However, the motives behind my actions were motivated by a desire to prevent the contents of the box from ever being released again. You have no such excuse for the motives behind your actions when you were alive, and for what you just tried to do... BEGONE!" A second flash of light sped from the outstretched hand of my companion and enveloped the spirit of the warden. "THIS CAN'T BE!" With that last howl, the spirit was engulfed by the light and then the light vanished, leaving no trace of the spirit behind.

My companion stood there for a few moments, and then turned around. His face showed no emotion, and I suddenly noticed his eyes were different colors: his left eye was purple and his right eye was yellow. His expression quickly changed to one of concern, and he hurried over to me. "Are you OK? No, that's a stupid question... you nearly got strangled to death by a spirit... and one holding immense hatred at that." "How did you figure that out? The fact that it was the spirit of the prison warden, or was it the fact that the face of that spirit could have killed both of us if looks could actually kill?" "Humor... that's a good sign. You're rebounding quickly. In answer to your question, it's the latter. The greater the hatred possessed by a spirit, the more abhorrent it appears."

Several hours later, the two of us found a stream, and my companion caught some fish that I cooked over a campfire. Not exactly what I was used to, but after all that time in prison (eating food that tasted worse than the spirit had looked), it tasted as good as... well, as good as it felt pulling off the heist of the Clockwerk Wings. Under normal circumstances, I would stayed there a few more days (especially because there was a forest nearby that I could use to get my skills back up to par), but given the current circumstances, I suggested that we stay where we were until the next morning, and then get moving again. "Good idea," my companion said. "I would suggest we travel up this stream, as it will certainly lead to a larger stream or river. Once there I'll be able to determine in which direction we should travel." "How are you going to do that?" "All things in good time, Cooper. All things in good time."

As night approached, my companion drew several rings around our campsite and inscribed them with strange symbols. "Runes of warding and protection. An absolute necessity if we want to have a good chance of waking up." "A good chance of waking up tomorrow morning?" "Runes of warding are used to ward off dangerous creatures, and runes of protection is self-explanatory. Good night, Cooper." With that, my companion walked over to his "bed" (which like mine was actually a section of ground that we had covered with grass blades) and went to sleep. I went to sleep a hour later, wondering why my companion had answered my question by explaining what the runes did. It was a good thing I wouldn't figure out until the next morning that my question had been answered, since I wouldn't have been able to go to sleep. Considering I nearly been strangled to death by one of those "dangerous creatures" earlier that day, the reason why that would have been the case should be obvious... as obvious as the fact the runes ended up working perfectly. The next morning, we both headed upstream like my companion had suggested. I still didn't know how he was going to determine the direction we should travel next, but I didn't have any better ideas to suggest. I just hoped my companion knew what he was doing...


	7. Strange Dangers, Stranger Allies: Carmel...

Three days had passed since I'd left what had once been the city of Paris, and I was finally forced to admit to myself the fact that I had absolutely no clue where I was. I had made the assumption that the maps would give me some idea of where I was and in which direction I should go, and that the compass would show me the direction I was going in. The compass appeared to be working fine, but that was irrelevant... since the maps were no longer accurate. No, the problem wasn't the maps as much as the fact that the landscape had been affected by the contents of the box as well.

"Great, just great... what am I supposed to do now! My maps are completely useless, and the compass isn't much good by itself. I've still got some food left, but I'm running out of water... could things possibly get any worse? I might as well keep moving... there's nothing around here of use." Several hours later as night began to fall, I came upon a forest and decided to take shelter there. After all, trees also need water, so there was a good chance that there was a stream or pond that I could use to replenish my water supplies. There was also the fact that my supplies of food wouldn't last forever, and I might be able to find something to eat. Pretty much everything I could have wished for, right? I was about to discover a perfect example of why a certain old saying existed: "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."

Everything seemed fine at first; I discovered that there was a stream in the forest, and the water was more or less clean. I was too tired to try and see if I could catch any fish, but there were wild berries growing on some bushes nearby, and the field guide I'd found back in the ruins of Paris identified them as being edible... although "edible" turned out to be a pretty accurate description of how they tasted, but I wouldn't be in danger of running out of food anytime soon... or at least that's what I thought would be the case as I set up camp for the night. I was about to lie down on the ground and go to sleep for the night when I heard what I THOUGHT was the sound of somebody stepping on a branch and breaking it.

I quickly stood up and drew my shock pistol. "Who's there! Stop hiding and come out where I can see you!" A few moments passed before my demand was answered. At first, I was annoyed, as it appeared that this was some punk's pathetic attempt to scare me away from my belongings. "Nice try, but I won't be scared by a disguise that pathetic. I'll give you 10 seconds to leave, and if you don't..." The "punk" started coming closer, and I figured that he thought I was bluffing. "I wasn't joking, punk... say goodnight!" I fired my shock pistol, and my shot hit perfectly... but with no apparent effect other than a horrific scream. Not only did the scream make it quite clear that this wasn't someone disguised as a tree attempting to scare me, but it also brought several other "trees" out of the surrounding woods (the latter of which I didn't notice immediately.)

I was shocked, but quickly decided that it would be a good idea to switch tactics. "I don't know who or what you are, but I'm not going to let you get any closer to me and my belongings!" I started to head towards the fire in the center of the campsite when I was grabbed from behind by another "tree," which proceeded to start to crush me. I attempted to get myself free, but several moments later yet another "tree" grabbed hold of me as well and joined in with the first one. They didn't seem to be trying to kill me yet, but I figured that they were waiting for their friend to make its way over before they finished me off.

They never got the chance though... one of the "trees" suddenly tightened its grip for a moment at the same time it gave a horrific scream... one that I realized was different from the one I'd heard before. Its grip went slack a moment later, just as the same thing happened with the other "tree." My confusion as to what had caused this turn of events was short, as what appeared to be a bolt of flame slammed into the "tree" that had been making its way over to me. "Well, well... what do we have here? From the looks of it, a fox who doesn't have the brains they were born with!" I turned to see who had just saved (and insulted) me, and saw a middle-aged foxhound dressed in khaki, carrying what appeared to be a crude hunting bow. "Well, I suppose YOU know what those things were since you're so smart?" "No, I really don't have a clue... all I know is that the first time I saw them was the day some big explosion occurred... and that everybody and everything else in the forest ended up how you would have... eaten!"

Under normal circumstances, I would have immediately written off the foxhound as being crazy and probably a danger to the general public. The crudeness of the hunting bow suggested that he had made it himself, and combined with him being dressed in khaki, it suggested that he had been a survivalist or militiaman... both of which were occupations that didn't have a reputation for being practiced by law-abiding citizens. However, the definition of "normal circumstances" definitely didn't apply to someone being nearly crushed to death by "trees," or much of anything since that box had been opened. "Well, thanks for the help... I guess it would be a good idea for me to leave this forest before more of those "trees" show up." The foxhound looked at me strangely, and then asked me: "You got any idea of where you're going?" I don't know why since I'd never met him before (and he'd called me stupid as well), but I answered his question truthfully. "No... I have absolutely no idea of where I'm going, or of where I am right now." When I didn't hear a response, I turned around to find the foxhound gone.

I didn't spend much time trying to figure out why he'd left, as I was more interested in getting out of the forest before I ended up being torn apart when more of those "trees" found me. I was tired and it didn't help that I'd been about one "tree" away from being crushed to death. "The sooner I get out of this forest, the sooner I can go to sleep safely... for that matter, the sooner I can do anything safely!" I had packed up a little more than half of my belongings when I realized something strange... the rest of my belongings had disappeared! "What... where's the rest..." "The rest of your belongings? I've got them packed up already. Who knows when more of those monsters will come looking for us? We should get moving before they do." I turned to see the foxhound wearing a backpack, a knife belt with several knives, and holding his hunting bow. Two knapsacks (one of which was mine) lay next to him, one on each side.

"Hold on... what do you mean WE?" The foxhound smiled at me and said: "There are three reasons why WE should get moving. The first reason is that you have no idea where you are or where you're going. Since you've got maps and a compass, my guess is that things have gotten just as screwed up outside this forest since that explosion.. if that's what it actually was. The second reason is that you clearly don't have a clue as to how to deal with the dangers that we might come across. Oh, you've prepared for them... but your recent experience should have demonstrated that you're not prepared to deal with the dangers that exist in the world NOW." The foxhound picked up the knapsacks, handed over my knapsack and slung the other knapsack over his shoulder. "Hold on... you said there were three reasons, and you've only stated two!" "The third reason... I'm a foxhound. You're a fox... obviously the third reason for us traveling together is that I'm supposed to be around to constantly annoy you.'

As I left the forest with my new companion, I wondered about three things. The first thing I wondered about was if my new companion had any better idea about where to go then I did. The second thing I wondered about was how widespread the damage was from whatever it was that had been released from that box. The third thing I wondered about was how long I would be able to resist the thought of strangling my new companion to death if he had been serious about that third reason. Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing more than his idea of a joke.


	8. Haunting Remnants: Sly Cooper's Story

It had been a week and a half since I'd left the forest with my companion, who had proven to be full of surprises. The latest one had been how he'd managed to tell that he should go in this direction. "More runes? I thought you were going to find which direction we should go, not stop and rest!" "Relax, runes can be used for many purposes. If you were trained in how to use runes, you would be able to clearly tell that these runes are designed for scrying." "Scrying?" "It's a term for using magic to see things, in this case to see the area around us." "I could just climb a tree and do that far more easily." "Yes, and also far less effectively. Let me remind you that the devastation caused by the massive energies released from the box is worldwide. There may be a chance that you may be able to see something of use if you do climb a tree, but scrying can allow one to see a location hundreds of miles away... I'm not going to attempt to see that far, as even with the stabilizing energies of the water and earth I'd be flat on my back for three days if I tried to do that."

Despite that, I ended up climbing a tree, and got nothing out of it but strain on my eyes and splinters in my hands. My companion had better luck than I did... and I have to admit he had warned me beforehand. "200 miles to the west, there's the ruins of a city. There are some buildings there that are somewhat intact, and there also APPEAR to be people living there." "Finally..." "Don't get your hopes up just yet... I said some of the buildings are semi-intact, and it's the ruins of a city. You should also keep in mind what happened to many of the creatures in the past that survived in body..." "Oh yeah... the people that you saw might not be friendly... or even people anymore." "Well, he'd been right about everything... the city was in ruins, and it turned out that the "people" living there (with one exception) were no longer people. He'd also been right about my skills being essential for both my survival and his.  
"So, is there any danger nearby?" "I'll check..." My companion closed his eyes... and was attacked by several assailants. "Hey, hey! We don't want any trouble..." "RRRRRRR!" "Kill.. Kill... KILL!" You get the idea... and so did I. Considering my companion was being strangled to death before my eyes... I guess it's not surprising that I reacted violently. What came as a surprise to me (and still haunts me) is how violently I reacted. It was all over a few moments later... my companion was safe... and his assailants lay dead with heads and faces smashed in by my cane in my desperation to save my companion.  
"I.. I didn't mean for this to happen! I may have been a thief but I'm not a murderer!" "Nobody could accuse you of being a murderer... you did what you had to in order to save me... and if you hadn't killed them, they'd have attacked you after they finished me off." "You weren't kidding about my skills being essential to your survival... no wonder you got caught with the box. You weren't meant to be a thief." "Tell me something I don"t already know..." "Well, what do we do with these bodies? I guess we should bury them." "Unfortunately we can't do that for two reasons. First, if we stay in one place for too long, we'll end up being attacked again, and we might not be so lucky the next time. The next group could be armed with weapons or be three times as large in number. " "Unless the second reason is better, I'm going to bury them." "The second reason is that it's a waste of time. From the looks of it these creatures were in the early stages of madness. After a few weeks, those still alive will have progressed to the point where they'll eat anything... even if it's been buried." "Hold on... you"re saying that these bodies will be dug up... and eaten!" "Like I said, these creatures were in the early stages..."

"Creatures" was an accurate description of the way these people had acted... but they still had looked like normal people at first glance. I would have argued further for burying the bodies... but I detected movement towards our position, and I alerted my companion to the fact. He closed his eyes again, and quickly opened them. "There's a group of creatures moving towards our position, and they're carrying weapons." "I'm pretty sure we can take them." "No, we can't. We should get out of here RIGHT NOW." The tone of my companion's voice left no room for argument. I abandoned any ideas of burying the bodies, and both of us quickly left the area. As it turned out, when I took a look back over my shoulder a few moments later, it only confirmed that my companion had been right that we couldn't have taken that group on... not unless we had wanted to be used for target practice.

Once we were both a safe distance away from the place where we'd met our "welcoming committee," my companion suggested that we start searching the ruins. "As dangerous as it is, we may discover something of value to us..." "Like food, information, and perhaps even somebody who isn't a homicidal lunatic?" "We shouldn't get our hopes up for the last one... and information might not be as useful now as it would have been. However, you do have the general idea." The first few buildings we searched contained nothing useful, so we moved on to another area.

"Hey, what's that?" I'd just spotted something lying near the rubble of a building, and I went over to see what it was. "It appears to be a sign... let's see what it says." I turned over the sign, and... "You know, I always thought people who carried these signs were nuts... not any more." My companion said nothing, as there was nothing really to say. The sign told us everything we needed to know about whoever had been holding it: "The End Of The World Is Near!" The sign was useless to us... considering the world HAD already ended. As we continued on, I said to my companion: "You know, I also used to think those signs were worth a few laughs... not any more." "If you still found that sign funny now, I'd probably have to kill you." I said to my companion: "That's not funny." My companion replied: "It wasn't meant to be." I have to admit that he did have a point; if I'd found the sign funny, it could easily have been interpreted as that I was going crazy... and that I could turn into one of those creatures at any time. My companion continued: "... But not immediately, since it wouldn't be definitive proof that you were going crazy and were a danger to me. It could have just ended up meaning that you had a nasty sense of humor." "Thanks... I think."

It was an hour later when our searching finally started to pay off. "Hey, that looks like a grocery store! It appears to be intact... should we search it?" "Of course, but we should keep our guard up just in case. Don't take any cans of food that have been dented or have burst open." "Any particular reason for that?" "Yes... there are enough things in the world now that can kill us... it would be pretty ironic if we did ourselves in with food poisoning." "By ironic, you don't mean the funny kind of irony, do you?" "Was that a rhetorical question? You know that we want to stay ALIVE." I didn't reply to this, and we both entered the grocery store.

Looks can be deceiving... while the outside of the grocery store had appeared intact, the inside was mostly ruined. "What a surprise... the place appears to have been looted already." My companion turned to me and replied: "We should still search it just in case. Despite the condition of this store, there might still be a few items left." "It's worth a shot, so let's get to it. How about you performing that trick of yours that you used to locate my cane back at the ruins of the prison?" As I said this, I suddenly remembered all the people who had died back there when the box was opened, and I wondered if my companion could have saved more of them if he had known he was able to protect more than just himself with his abilities then. Unfortunately, that requires that I spend several minutes with my eyes closed and not moving around. You'll have to protect me from any threats during that time, or I'll have to start over again. Do you think you're up to it?" "Of course I am! Just leave it to me, pal!" "Then I'll start immediately. You make sure to protect me, and I'll make sure to locate anything of use to us still left here." Several minutes passed and no threat materialized, so I didn't really have to do anything to protect my companion. "I'm done... there are quite a few items left here in the rubble, and there seems to be a lot of items in the back of the store... most likely a storage room that nobody managed to get into." "Finally! I was starting to get bored."

My companion had been correct in his assumption about that storage room, and yet again he had been proven correct about the skills I had developed as a master thief being essential for our survival. I had suggested that it would be a waste of time to search the rubble in the mostly destroyed part of the store when most of them would probably be damaged, and my companion agreed with me. However, when we got to the door to the storage room, it was obvious why nobody had been able to get into the room: the door was triple padlocked and had been clearly constructed to repel any attempts to force it open with anything less than a bulldozer. There were signs of attempts to use crowbars, hammers, hairpins... basically every method with a low chance of succeeding and/or depending solely on brute force. "Hairpins? Hairpins? They were definitely amateurs..." "Not too smart either... hairpins are only good when used to open locks which are designed to accept a straight key." "A straight key? What's that?" "A straight key is a key which has al of its notches at the same height... locks like that are very easy to pick. That's why most keys are designed to be unique. There's a reason why locksmiths aren't allowed to make copies of certain keys." "That would be the fact that it would compromise the effectiveness of the lock's design. I've dealt with locks like these before... it's something of a challenge." "From what you've told me, you enjoy a challenge." "I certainly do. This is going to be fun... just hope my lockpicking skills aren't too rusty!"

I was trying to sound happy about it, but my companion wasn't buying it. "You're not really as happy about this as you sound. It's just not the same, is it?" "What do you mean by that? Lockpicking is lockpicking." "THAT wouldn't fool a child... there's a big difference. All the laws against what you're about to do are dead along with the old world. There's no law enforcement to worry about if you take too long to pick the locks, and this isn't what you want to do... but you have to do it." "You're right... I'm not real happy about it. What if there's somebody still here in this ruined city... somebody who's dying of hunger because they couldn't get into this room?" "It won't do any good to worry about them... even if there is somebody, we wouldn't be able to help them because the storage room isn't open." "Good point... but it just doesn't feel right. I was born in a family of master thieves, and I specialized in stealing from master criminals. There's no master criminal to rip off, no guards to avoid... no lasers, no spotlights... no real challenge! Just three padlocks... three small padlocks!"

My companion didn't say anything. Considering what I'd told him, there wasn't anything he really could say. Several minutes of silence passed, and then I said to him: "Ok, I'll get to work on the padlocks." My companion just said: "Tell me when you're done... I'm going to make several runic wards around the store." "Good idea... I don't fancy getting strangled again by another spirit... and I don't think you fancy getting strangled again by those creatures." "So you're finally calling them creatures now?" "Well, they sure didn't act like they were people anymore." My companion and I separated, and began our respective tasks. As I started on the first padlock, I wondered exactly what we'd find behind the door. Whatever it was, we weren't going to find out until I took care of the padlocks. Several hours passed and my companion had finished making the wards... just in time too. I could hear several voices, and they sounded like they wanted to invite us to join them for dinner... and not as dinner guests. "Let me guess... our "friends" out there aren't in the early stages of madness." "You weren't asking a question, were you? No, they are most certainly NOT in the early stages of madness." "How long will the wards hold them back?" "It's hard to tell... but I'd say that the wards will last more than long enough for them to lose interest... or to be be attacked by others. They might even start fighting one another." As if on cue, that's exactly what it sounded like was starting to happen. "I don't suppose you can make a ward that keeps out sound?" "Sorry, but I can't do that. Trust me... if I could do that, I would. It's getting on my nerves too."

"Finally... that last padlock was a nasty one." Night had fallen an hour ago, and I was pretty hungry. I had a feeling that my companion was hungry as well. "Good work, Sly. I know it was difficult with all the noise, and not having used your skills for quite a while. "I'm just glad it's over with... I'm starving!" "Well then... why don't we go in to the storage room now? We'll need a place to sleep, and we'll be able to barricade the door just in case the wards I made give out during the night. I'll put down some more wards before we go to sleep as well." I opened the door, and my companion (who was standing next to me) saw the same thing I did... proof that the trouble we'd gone through had been more than worth it.


	9. A Chat Between Allies: Carmelita Montoya...

I decided it was time to get to know my new companion a bit better. It had been almost a week since I first met him, and he hadn't had much to say to me. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that both of us were too busy watching for signs of life while we traveled... and that in the two cases we did spot signs of life, that life wasn't friendly in the slightest. "So, do you think we'll run into any more of those "trees" anytime soon?" "Considering that we've run into those monsters twice since we left the forest, I'd like to ask you a question about your question... was your question a rhetorical one?" I realized that a question as stupid as the one I'd just asked was not going to make my companion any more talkative... and the last thing I wanted was for him to leave. All the weapons I had left were my shock pistol and one .45, which were both completely useless against the "trees." Well, actually that wasn't completely true... but I'd used the ammo in the rest of the weapons and managed to only kill ONE "tree," while my companion's hunting bow appeared to be far more effective.

I decided to try again... this time actually thinking before I spoke. "So, what did you do for a living before all this happened?" "That's a long story... but there's isn't much else to do to pass the time, so I'll tell you a little of it. I was born into the world with the name of Julius."Julius? What's your last name?" "It's not one I care to remember... I have good reasons for that." I decided not to press him further about that. "If you don't want to tell me that, it's fine. You still haven't answered my question about what you did for a living." "I did several things for a living, and some of which i'm not proud of. In fact, that's why I left civilization... along with several of my friends that felt the same way." I didn't ask what had happened to them... the tone of his voice told me all that I needed to know. My companion continued to tell his story, and I listened for several hours.

When my companion finally finished telling his story, he asked me the same question I'd asked him. Clearly he hadn't been kidding about leaving civilization behind; after busting Cooper AND that mysterious fox so shortly after I busted Cooper, I'd been all over the news. I also now knew the name he called himself now, so I addressed him by it. "Ok Sureshot, here goes. I'm Carmelita Montoya Fox, formerly of Interpol." "By formerly, I'm assuming that Interpol was destroyed in that explosion. "The tone in Sureshot's voice told me that while one could have assumed he was asking a question, he had been stating it as being a fact, and that being the case I continued on. I told him about what I'd done during my career (omitting certain parts that I was still uncomfortable about revealing at the time or that I felt were of no matter) and what had happened up from the time the box had been opened to the time he encountered me nearly being crushed to death by those "trees."

"Quite a story, but I wouldn't have believed a month ago that something that had been contained in a little box could have done all of this to the world. On the other hand, those trees weren't around a month ago, and my friends were still alive. You didn't ask me what happened to them..." "Considering what you said to me about what those "trees" had done to every other living thing in that forest other than you, I've got a pretty good idea of what happened to them." "You weren't kidding about being a Interpol officer..." "What's that supposed to mean!" "Nothing, nothing..." I decided to let the matter drop, as I quickly realized that there was nothing to be gained by interrogating my companion. Like I said, my past as a member of Interpol was dead, so even if he was hiding something, it wouldn't have really mattered... or at least that's what I thought at that moment.

That night, I was about to go to sleep when I paused and stopped to think about the past week or two. I'd been hoping that whatever had been released from that box hadn't inflicted widespread damage over a large area... but it appeared that so far there was little that had been left untouched. Villages and towns had been wiped off the face of the world, there were "trees" walking around killing and eating anything living that they could get their tentacle-like branches on.. and although I'd learned a little about my companion, he was hiding something... something that he appeared to want to forget desperately. "That's enough, Carmelita. Time for you to go to sleep... you've got a long day tomorrow." As I said this to myself, I then wondered exactly what the next day would bring for me... and my companion Sureshot.


	10. A Chat Between Allies: Sly Cooper's Stor...

We both had a good meal and a good night's sleep. The storage room was full of various kinds of food... so full in fact that I don't think that Murray could have eaten it all at once. As I thought this, I was struck by fear and sadness... the fear that Murray might be dead, and the sadness that so many people had died. The only thing that could have made it worse would have been if I'd managed to get my hands on the box and opened it myself back when I had tried to steal it from that estate. It was probably gone as well now. "At least the wards seem to have held up, as has the door." "If they hadn't, we'd be dead already." 

I turned to see my companion, who had just woken up. "How are you feeling, pal?" "Somewhat better, considering the current circumstances." "Yeah, and as much as we'd probably both like to stay here for a while, this place won't be safe forever." "That's correct, but I didn't have any plans of sticking around here much longer." "What's the big rush? I don't think you're going to get a date with a hot girl anytime soon." "That is definitely NOT the reason I want to get moving." "So why do you want to get moving?" "Let's tell each other a bit about ourselves, and then I'll tell you why I want to get moving." 

That was fine by me. I started by telling him some of the stuff he already knew, and added some stuff that he didn't. I talked about my pals Bentley and Murray, about the Inspector and a few of the encounters we'd had with one another... and finished up with what I would have done with the box if I'd gotten my hands on it, not knowing what I knew now. "Selling that box... I can't blame you for saying that's what you WOULD have done not knowing about the terrible power contained within... but who would you have sold it to?" I was about to reply casually that I'd just have sold it on "CNet" when I stopped and realized what could have happened if I HAD done that. The problem is that neither the buyer or the seller meet each other in person when you do that, so I could have ended up putting in the hands of a major criminal organization or some psychopath. "You don't need to answer that... it doesn't really matter now, does it?" "No, it doesn't... well, I've told you a bit more about myself, and now it's your turn." 

My companion started to tell his story, very little of which I had already known. He said that he'd been born into a family that knew very well what power that box contained... but his parents hadn't taken it seriously. To start with, it seemed that his father hadn't manifested the powers that my companion had to start with, and neither had his grandfather. However, his grandfather had warned his father when my companion's powers emerged that the box was in danger of being rediscovered and opened. He was completely ignored by everybody except my companion. That was 10 years ago, and his grandfather had died 4 years ago, leaving behind a set of books to my companion that seemed like complete gibberish to his parents, but his parents decided to give my companion the books anyway... and I'm glad they did. Apparently the books had some sort of protective magic to prevent those that were unwary, untalented in magic, or malevolent in nature from being able to see them as being full of anything but that. In reality, they were what my companion taught himself much of his knowledge of runes from, and also taught him a lot of other things, that had been written in case something like "this" (and it was obvious what he meant) were to happen. A year ago, his parents had died in a car crash, and a few months later my companion had a nightmare about the box. Without having read those books, he would have probably dismissed it as a mere nightmare instead of a warning.

"It's not your fault that this happened... you tried to stop this from happening." "Yes, I TRIED to stop it from happening and failed. Which leads me to the reason why I want to leave soon. Having failed to prevent this from happening, I am required to make sure that there is a chance that the damage can be reversed. The problem is that it will take far longer than our lifetimes... and will require far more people than just the two of us." My companion turned and walked over to a shelf that held packs of seeds, the kind that you'd use to plant a small vegetable garden with. "What are you taking those for?" "The future, my friend... the future." I wondered what he meant for a moment, and then kicked myself (figuratively speaking) for being so stupid. "The future... as in the future of the world, right? All that destruction out there... many of the plants and such wouldn't have been spared either!" "Precisely... besides providing food and being beautiful when their flowers bloom, the plants will also help to purify the land of any remnants of hatred that taint it." "You lost me at the "being beautiful" part." 

My companion just looked at me for a moment, and then repeated what he had just said, minus the "being beautiful" part. "Purify the land of hatred? So you're saying that some of that hatred from inside the box is still around?" "ALL of it is still around... it just isn't in the concentrated form that it was when it was first released. Think of the initial incident being like a toxic waste spill; there are immediate effects that are drastically apparent, and then there are long-term effects if steps aren't taken to contain the spill that don't show up immediately. It's like that with the hatred... if steps aren't taken to contain AND reverse the effects, this will only be the beginning." "THIS is only the BEGINNING? Things are bad enough already, and you're saying that they could get worse?" "That is precisely what I am saying. and that is all the more reason for us to get moving as soon as possible." 

However, we did end up sticking around a little longer for several reasons. The first reason was that I pointed out that if we wanted to bring some of this food with us, we'd need to find something to hold the food, and anything else that we might come across that would be useful. "So you want to search the ruins of this city some more? Just as long as we don't end up spending TOO much longer here..." "Well, we don't exactly have anyplace better to go right now... and our clothing has seen better days. Actually, that's an understatement. Our clothes are starting to look like the kind of thing you'd clean tables with!" "You're right... I'm embarrassed to say I haven't really been paying much attention to that..." "Well, you strike me as somebody who's obsessed with penguin suits and such. I'm not too obsessed with clothing myself... I just don't think that what we currently have is going to last much longer." Needless to say, our clothing was another reason we stuck around a bit longer. 

It took several hours (and a few skirmishes with several groups of creatures) to find what we were looking for. "Well, this store looks pretty intact, so why don't we go in and take a look around?" I was about to enter the store when my companion tackled me to the ground. "What's the big idea? There's no reason for you to have done that!" "Nothing is certain... except a foolish move like that is an invitation to disaster. What if there are creatures inside waiting for us? There might not be time for me to save you before your neck got snapped, you were stabbed in the guts..." "OK, OK... I get the idea. I'll be on my guard." My companion's fears turned out to be unfounded, but I was only slightly annoyed by that. What annoyed me more was the fact that there was very little inside the store that didn't appear to be damaged to the point of being unusable. 

"You find anything, pal? I haven't had much luck here." "What are you talking about? This is still usable... I just need a little time to repair the damage." "Hold on... you can fix these torn-up excuses for dustrags into something that we can use? How are you going to... Oh yeah, your runic magic. I almost forgot about that." "It'll take me a few moments, but they should be as good as new afterwards." He wasn't kidding about that... and then I realized something. "Wait a minute... you could have just repaired the clothing we're wearing right now! Why didn't you do that instead?" "You never know when some extra clothing may come in handy... and while I can repair clothing with my magic, I can't clean the clothing with it." "You do have a point there. Still, how about repairing the clothing we're wearing right now?" "We're going to have to take off our clothing for me to do that. Otherwise we'll run the risk of the magic sealing our various body openings shut." "That's a pretty picture..." "By using magic, I can do certain things quicker and better than you can yourself... but this is one of the cases where magic has its limitations. Magic does what it is specifically designed to do. Nothing more than that, nothing less than that... even if in the end, the result is not what the caster had in mind." "In other words, if somebody screws up casting a spell, the results aren't pretty." "That's another way of putting it." 

A day later, we were getting ready to leave the ruined city. I was packing up some food in a knapsack I'd found in the ruins after quite a bit of searching, and my companion was doing the same. "Well, that seems to be everything, pal." "Yes, that seems to be the case. Time to start traveling again." However, things turned out to not be that simple. As both of us were about to leave the city, we both heard a loud scream... and it didn't sound like one of those creatures! My companion shot off in the direction of the scream, and I followed quickly. We were both about to discover who had made that scream... 


End file.
